Has the English language been reduced to \’Yo\’?

In moments of great excitement, people tend to communicate in shorter bursts that occur more frequently.

It makes sense, and has been backed up by research; a study done by MIT found that the most exciting moments of a sporting event elicited tweets that dropped to a length of 60 characters on average from 90 characters.

“Our emotional bursts become faster and more impulsive online, letting us unveil how we sense events offline – with striking mathematical regularity,” reads a post on the Senseable City Lab at MIT.

Is this phenomenon to credit (or blame) for the popularity of the Yo messaging app?

The Yo app lets users say “yo” to their friends with a single tap. And nothing else. The app bills itself as “the simplest and most efficient communication tool in the world.” Oh, and it has raised $1 million in funding, according to the Financial Times. It\’s met with plenty of skepticism among a crowd that at least wants another 138 characters to play with.

On Thursday afternoon, a Twitter account belonging to Yo said it now has more than 200,000 users. It had just 60,000 users on Wednesday, according to Business Insider. It was ranked 24th on Apple\’s App Store among free apps, beating apps such as Twitter and Skype for iPhone. By Friday morning, it had leaped to No. 5, surpassing Snapchat.

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